- The Pint
- Posts
- 🍺 VPNs to the rescue
🍺 VPNs to the rescue
The week's news in memes
In partnership with
Send stories, jokes and hate mail to [email protected]
Finally, a powerful CRM—made simple.
Attio is the AI-native CRM built to scale your company from seed stage to category leader. Powerful, flexible, and intuitive to use, Attio is the CRM for the next-generation of teams.
Sync your email and calendar, and Attio instantly builds your CRM—enriching every company, contact, and interaction with actionable insights in seconds.
With Attio, AI isn’t just a feature—it’s the foundation.
Instantly find and route leads with research agents
Get real-time AI insights during customer conversations
Build AI automations for your most complex workflows
Join fast growing teams like Flatfile, Replicate, Modal, and more.
Happy Friday lovely people,
If the world feels a little weird - half confused by the slow descent into techno-fascism / half consumed with deep lust for Sydney Sweeney, that’s perfectly normal.
Well, that’s what our in-house/court-mandated psychologist says anyway.
But forget all that nonsense - let’s celebrate the end of another week together by getting you informed through memes.
⏰ Today's reading time is 6 minutes
Quote of the Week
"The reason the world speaks English is because we don’t take 2 hour lunch breaks."
IMF upgrades UK growth forecast despite trade tariffs
The IMF took a break from enslaving developing countries with crippling debt to upgrade its UK growth forecast and signalled that the Bank of England could cut rates twice this year, lowering the base rate to 3.75%.
UK GDP is now expected to grow 1.2% in 2025, with 2026 unchanged at 1.4%, making it the third-fastest growing G7 economy behind the US and Canada.
Chancellor Rachel “From Accounts” Reeves hailed the upgrade, pitching Labour’s “Plan for Change” as key to unlocking growth.
But the IMF recently warned her to limit fiscal events to once a year, scrap the pensions triple lock (sorry boomers) and consider charging higher earners for NHS use to meet fiscal rules.
Global growth is expected to hit 3% in 2025, aided by a partial easing of US tariffs, which were reduced for the UK, EU and China ahead of the August 1st deadline.
The IMF credited this "fragile" improvement in trade tensions, lower global interest rates and an 8% dollar drop for bolstering short-term resilience, though it warned that the worst effects of tariffs are yet to come.
The US economy, despite being at the centre of tariff disputes, was also upgraded: 1.9% growth this year and 2% in 2026, helped by its tariff rate falling from 24 to 17%
The IMF cautioned that global trade remains in long-term decline, projected to fall from 57% of output in 2024 to 53% by 2030.
Tesla has signed a $16.5 billion chip contract with Samsung Electronics
Elon Musk confirmed Tesla has signed a semiconductor supply deal with Samsung, running from July 2025 to the end of 2033.
Samsung initially withheld Tesla’s name to protect trade secrets but Musk revealed it on X after another bump of Ketamine, adding that Samsung’s new Texas factory will produce Tesla’s next-gen AI6 chips, with the carmaker actively involved in improving manufacturing efficiency.
He hinted the deal could ultimately exceed $16.5 billion.
Samsung shares jumped over 6% on the news, their highest since September 2024, as investors bet on the company’s growing chip foundry business.
Their convicted felon CEO recently being cleared of fraud has certaintly helped too.
Samsung is the world’s second-largest chip foundry behind TSMC and plans to start mass production of 2nm chips, targeting orders from Tesla and potentially Qualcomm.
Despite the Tesla deal, Samsung expects its Q2 profit to more than halve due to weak foundry demand and lagging AI memory sales, with earnings due Thursday.
US and EU avert trade war with 15% tariffs trade deal
The US and EU have agreed on what’s being described as the largest trade deal in history after talks in Scotland.
The Donald was reportedly in high spirits upon signing, as he was relieved to be looking at anything other than Scottish windfarms (which he still calls windmills).
It’s more of a framework than a full treaty to be fair, but it will set the tone for the relationship with the current US administration for years to come.
Trump declared victory (obviously), with analysts suggesting the EU will take a 0.5% GDP hit while the US gains tens of billions in tariffs.
We dug into the boring stuff so you don’t have to.
Who won:
Trump: Secured a high-profile trade win to yap about at home.
US energy: The EU committed to $750bn in US energy purchases, further cutting reliance on Russian fuel. Sorry Vlad.
US carmakers: Lower EU tariffs could boost American auto exports.
Aviation industry: Aircraft and parts will face no tariffs, benefiting manufacturers on both sides.
Markets: Stocks in Asia and Europe jumped on news of the deal.
Who’s been slightly fucked:
US consumers: A 15% tariff on EU goods will raise prices domestically i.e. some poor fuckers have to actually pay for those tariffs Trump loves so much.
EU solidarity: The deal needs unanimous approval from all 27 EU members, which is about as straightforward as you would expect. French PM Francois Bayrou called it “a dark day,” while Hungary’s favourite chubby dictator Viktor Orban mocked the deal.
German carmakers: Though tariffs on EU cars to the US dropped from 27.5% to 15%, VW, BMW, and Mercedes will still face billions in extra costs.
EU pharma: Confusion persists over tariffs on drugs like Ozempic (made by a Danish company), with no exemption granted.
The agreement also pledges $600bn in new EU investment in the US and leaves scope for future “zero-for-zero” tariff deals on goods like wine and spirits.
Throw in some zero-for-zero on beer as well and seems like a good deal to us…
UK to recognise Palestinian statehood in September…unless Israel backs off in Gaza
Everyone’s favourite discount Tony Blair-clone Keir Starmer has committed to recognising a Palestinian state at September’s UN General Assembly unless Israel takes “substantive steps” toward ending the Gaza crisis and initiates a two-state peace process.
The decision marks a major shift in UK policy, driven by worsening conditions in Gaza and growing domestic and international pressure.
Starmer said the peace process is “under threat” and described a “catastrophic failure” to deliver aid, citing harrowing images of starving children.
He insisted Hamas must release hostages, disarm and accept no role in Gaza’s future government…
Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the move Britain’s “special burden of responsibility,” referencing its historical role in the region and was met with applause at the UN.
The “historical role in the region” he is referring to is of course the impeccable job we did with carving up those borders and managing local ethnic tensions…
Israel condemned the move as a “reward for Hamas,” with distinguished war criminal and podcaster Netanyahu accusing Starmer of “punishing victims.”
The move is being called the UK’s biggest policy shift on the issue in a generation.
Congressional stock trading ban gets Senate panel approval
A Senate committee narrowly advanced a bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress, presidents, and vice presidents, voting 8–7 despite strong Republican opposition.
The measure — once dubbed the “PELOSI Act” — will be expanded to include future presidents and vice presidents while controversially carving out an exemption for Donald Trump’s existing holdings.
Hawley framed the move as a long-overdue step to stop lawmakers profiting from privileged information, but most Republicans balked.
Sen. James Lankford warned it would “unfairly punish the wealthy,” while Sen. Rick Scott questioned why “making money” had become “a negative.”
Mmmm, maybe a public servant outperforming the greatest investor of all time would have something to do with it…
If passed, the law would ban lawmakers, future presidents and VPs from trading stocks while in office, but allow Trump and VP/Peter Thiel’s favourite gimp JD Vance to keep current holdings — though they would still be barred from buying new shares.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin said she disliked the Trump exception but argued, “It’s better to make good progress than wait for perfect.”
VPNs top download charts as age verification law kicks in the UK
VPN apps have surged to the top of the UK App Store after age verification rules for sites like PornHub, Reddit and X kicked in last week under the Online Safety Act.
As of Monday, five of the top ten free apps were VPNs, with Proton VPN reporting an 1,800% spike in UK sign-ups.
The law requires platforms hosting adult content to implement “robust” age checks, including facial scans or ID uploads, sparking privacy concerns among users.
VPNs let people bypass these checks by masking their location, effectively allowing them to browse as if they were abroad.
Cybersecurity experts warn that many free VPNs pose risks, including data harvesting or poor security.
Daniel Card of the Chartered Institute for IT noted that these apps “end up in the hands of kids” seeking to bypass restrictions, highlighting an “uncomfortable truth” about online behaviour.
The regulator Ofcom has stated that platforms cannot promote VPNs to evade verification, and the government has confirmed it would be illegal for them to do so.
This is the same government that also took the time to compare Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to notorious serial-paedophile Jimmy Saville over his concerns about the law.
Despite these warnings, services like Proton and Free VPN say user demand reflects concerns over privacy, stating that “this clearly shows adults are worried about universal age verification laws”.
Putting underage masturbation to one side, they may have a very good reason to be…
The Business Brief Executives Actually Trust
In a world of sensational headlines and shallow takes, The Daily Upside stands apart. Written by former bankers and veteran journalists, it delivers crisp, actionable insights that top execs use to make smarter decisions. Over 1M readers — boardrooms to corner offices — trust it every morning. Join them. Free, no fluff, just business clarity.
🍻Half Pints
Quick-fire news you might have missed
Meme of the Week
Happy International Beer Day 🍺
No special segment this week…just an acknowledgement of the sacred day that today is…International Beer Day.
Drink responsibly (we definitely won’t).
Cheers!
That’s all for today.
We’ll be back, bigger and better, next week.
Our mission is to carefully curate and craft the best memes to help you get up to speed with what’s happening in the world and have a few laughs whilst doing so.
We’re always open to feedback on improving the email, so let us know what you think in the poll below.
How was it for you?Today's edition was... |
Thanks to Jack
Reply